Hi!
I'm new here and need all the help I can get.
My family and I just brought home a puppy AND kitten on Sunday. Our puppy (Amber) is a 3 !/2 month old Chesapeake and our kitten is 2 1/2 months old.
I feel like Amber has every single puppy 'issue' she could possibly have. Where to begin....
She's about 80% house trained (peeing). The other 20% is my fault for not being on the ball enough with her.
She had a problem with jumping up on us, but we've quickly learned how to correct this and continue to work on it, but she still jumps up on everything else...counters, chairs, the baby gate, etc.
She barks every time there is food on the counter.
She tries to nip and chew everything, but we're learning how to deal with this too.
She won't let us walk her yet. Every time I put her leash on her, she runs around with the end of it in her mouth. So we're taking this a step at a time too.
Also, she's pretty obsessed with the kitten. We keep them FAIRLY separated, but let them have supervised visits. The kitten just lays there and lets the dog mouth her and put her paws on her. I ALWAYS stay right near and make sure I separate them if the kitten shows signs she's had enough.

Well, that's that. Sorry for the long rant. It's been a bit to deal with. I look forward to hearing some tips/advice.

The rest is simply a matter of teaching what is expected and remembering that she is a baby and needs lots and lots of patience. When my boy was a pup, I kept Zuke's treats in my pockets at all times and a little stuffy in my back pocket always. The stuffy was to redirect unwanted teeth and feet and the treats so that I could treat the behaviors that I wanted as soon as he did them. A puppy that chews on a toy instead of a hand gets a treat! Puppies are smart - the trick is to be smarter.

I think that the most important (and quite possibly the hardest) thing to remember is this: your puppy doesn't understand a word of English. You can say "no" all you want but your puppy doesn't know what it means. Yelling it doesn't make it any more understandable and punishing teaches that you are not to be trusted. Remember - your puppy doesn't speak English so if you tell it not to jump on you and then you punish it for jumping on you, your puppy has no idea what the punishment is for.

Sit is the easiest command to teach, using the right motivation and comes in very, very handy! Just hold a treat a bit in front and above your puppy, say sit once and as soon as that little hiney hits the floor so puppy can reach that treat - give it to her and tell her she is a good girl! Once she learns sit (and knows that she gets a treat for doing so!), you can ask for a sit when she starts jumping. Easy peasy! But it takes patience.

Good reply LR. I would ask if your puppy is being crate trained? Never use a crate to punish, start slowly by making it a happy place, food, treats, rest. If your puppy is crate trained then when you are prepping food in the kitchen the pup can be sent to the crate and given a treat and can stay there until the kitchen work is done and food removed. No more crying for or jumping up on the counters for the food. The key is making the crate a happy place though, give it a command/name -go to your crate - help that to happen nicely and the dog will learn to go there on command eventually. When the pup is a little older you can work on making him behave better around the food, once he understands more commands and words.

When you have the kitten and pup together, do you keep the pup on a leash so you can make a quick correction without necessarily removing him completely from the situation? Good luck to you, you've bitten off an awful lot with two little ones.

When I saw the title of your thread......OMD have you gone bonkers ! What fun you must be having with two babies, I bet they keep you laughing non-stop. If your puppy is food motivated, instead of using treats use her meal time for training this way she won't be gaining too much extra weight and she gets the idea that she does not get something for nothing she needs to work for it.

Part of love is discipline. To say that she won't let you walk her is upside down thinking. That would be like saying my child won't let me hold her hand when we cross the street. Whose in charge? It needs to be you and the puppy needs to appreciate that. So the more you can engage your dog by teaching her and continuing to uphold the standards of what you have taught her, it will help her to understand your rules and expectations and give her respect for you as her leader/teacher.

Boundary training is also very handy. Imagine that everyone/thing has a bubble around them that she in not permitted to enter without your permission and only with calm energy. The kitten has a bubble around her that you must protect because she may not be able to protect herself from an energetic pup. You have a personal bubble that it sounds like she is respecting but YOU also have to set the same bubbles around your friends, at the counters, chairs and baby gates. Teaching the sit when greeting people is ideal but sometimes the energy of the puppy is simply too intense and they have a tough time containing their enthusiasm. This is best to do it on leash. As the pup is approaching the person (or whatever you are dealing with) and she is about 4 feet away from it you are going to stop her forward movement with the leash (only stop, do not hold back), stomp your foot (with appropriate energy - could be soft or more abrupt according to the energy of the situation and the sensitivity of the pup) between the pup and the person and say "easy" or "no jump" or "leave it" - what ever you want that is appropriate to the moment. The pup should stop and probably sit, and may be even look up at you. Then softly invite the pup to greet but be prepared to do it again if her energy gets too intense again. You have to repeat this scenario until you can walk up to the person and the pup maintains good manners and then they get to greet the person.

If setting a permanent boundary - ie the counter. Then you do the same thing but do not permit the pup to finish the approach. Simple lay the boundary and the let the pup know it will never get to jump up on it.

All is going pretty good.
Yes, she is being crate trained. We keep some of her toys in there and put some treats every now and then so that she can learn it's a happy place.

She been going on walks in the morning and in the evening (its been much too hot in the middle of the day lately to take her in the afternoon). And she's been absolutely great on walks! She walks either beside or behind us most of the time. When she starts to pull ahead, she's gently corrected. Occasionally she will take the leash in her mouth if it goes near her face, but she quickly drops it.

I know it all takes patience and calm leadership. Everything will be worked out one step at a time.

All is going pretty good.
Yes, she is being crate trained. We keep some of her toys in there and put some treats every now and then so that she can learn it's a happy place.

She been going on walks in the morning and in the evening (its been much too hot in the middle of the day lately to take her in the afternoon). And she's been absolutely great on walks! She walks either beside or behind us most of the time. When she starts to pull ahead, she's gently corrected. Occasionally she will take the leash in her mouth if it goes near her face, but she quickly drops it.

I know it all takes patience and calm leadership. Everything will be worked out one step at a time.

Thanks for all the advice!

I had dog and got a kitten and the two became best friends . I was lucky my dog was so good with the kitten , she would let the kitten nurse on her . A friend found the kitten in the street , some jerk throw the poor kitten away like trash!

Welcome, some great tips already presented! My 2 cents is about arousal. The issues listed make me picture a dog that is very active, intelligent and looking for some direction. The issues described are also in an area that is tricky because you are talking about self learned, and self rewarding behaviors. What do I mean? We learn quickest when it's a subject we like or if the reward is great enough. Same goes for dogs. If they like what is on the counter and get what is on the counter they will most likely try again. If they want attention, jump on you, and get attention they will do it again. If someone is walking by the window and they bark at them "making them go away", they will do it again.... Self rewarding behaviour.

If you have a dog that get aroused easily, these issues can escalate quickly, and with a 4 month old dog very quickly. Teaching a dog to relax is important. Play time should end with a pee break and a short rest in the crate. This teaches them that it is normal to spend time in the crate and to calm down safe from kids and cats. Find a good trainer in your area, the cost of training will save you on vet bills later.